The invention covers a support for a sharply curved girder forming part of a monorail structure for suspended and/or upright vehicles. Bent girders for upright monorail vehicles, as for example the Allweg train, are carried by a large number of supports directly bracing the girder from below which, with the exception of possible ground indentations, does not entail any particular static problems. The Allweg train is intended as a long distance transit system so that there was no particular requirement for harmonic environmental adaptation, which is a much more important consideration in city transit systems.
Bent girders forming part of a monorail system for suspended vehicles are known, for example, from the Wuppertal suspended train. The girders hang on portal-like supports arranged at short intervals. The supports, as well as the girder, affect the aesthetic appearance of the city to such an extent that this transit system although favorable from a technical point of view, has never been constructed elsewhere. Memorandum 444 of the Council for Steel Utilization, Dusseldorf, describes and pictures several steel highways bridging construction sites, plazas, railway tracks and the like. Here too, the pillars are arranged at relatively short intervals compared with the width of the street. In certain situations, the supports are arranged next to the roadway which is cantilevered from them. As these bridges are meant as interim constructions only, aesthetic appearance is not given much thought. Also known are light suspended rail installations in factories, which hang from the roof or from a special supporting frame. Such a suspended rail installation, however, when installed at a curve, is suspended at the connecting joints and in the curve itself, so that there is no danger of tilting of the monorail girder during changes in the load of the rail at the curve.
The above mentioned supports for straight and curved girders are not feasible for intercity transit systems with small upright and/or suspended cabins, where aesthetic appearance of the city is not to be disturbed by an unnecessary number of supports and long construction periods. In such heavily congested environments it is, therefore, thought essential to support relatively long girders of a monorail system at the connecting joints only to reduce the number of supports, and whereby the supports themselves are located relatively close to the rail path with due consideration for the necessary lateral distance required for the vehicles. Difficulties do arise, however, when a girder is in the form of a tight curve, particularly if the bend is so tight that the line of gravity of the girder passes outside the supports which are provided at the girder joints. In these cases, the girder develops a tilting moment, i.e. the center of the curve tries to swing down on the outside. This, of course, can be eliminated by providing an additional support at the center of the curve. This, however, cuts in half the distance between the supports, which is undesirable, and often not even possible in installations in congested areas.